Good-Bye Dewey, R.I.P

I can't even believe I'm writing this but Dewey died today, quite unexpectedly.  He's had a lump, which almost looked like a dislocated shoulder, on his left side for a number of weeks that was diagnosed, clearly misdiagnosed, as a muscle problem.  He was given some meds but the problem kept getting worse so much so that he had basically been just hobbling around.  Duncan took him in last Friday and they recommended several options with us choosing surgery to go and remove what was there.  Because the problem hadn't gotten better, the thought by the doctor was that it was likely the same Hemangiosarcoma (i.e., cancer) that he had on his belly and had removed in October 2009.  


Duncan dropped him off this morning and then at about 11:40, the vet called me to say that they were in surgery and had been working on the mass for 20 - 30 minutes and it was so big and up against the muscle that they just couldn't get it out...it was too dangerous.  Nor could they take a piece of it to biopsy because she was afraid it wouldn't stop bleeding.  They were going to just stop what they were doing and close him up.  This was obviously not good news since it meant he would be in practically a crippled, or at least very hobbled, state for the rest of his life.  


At 3:18, they called me again to say that they were having a problem - - Dewey's heart had stopped beating and he wasn't breathing.  She was literally standing three feet away from him as someone else gave him CPR (which, I'm just a bit curious to know how that works on a dog) and she thought it would be a good idea to come there right away.  Of course, I knew that meant he was probably done.  Duncan fortunately pulled in from work a few minutes later and I was able to go.  As I expected, when I got there, they confirmed that they hadn't been able to revive him.  The doctor was very nice.  She explained that he had come to, very slowly, from the anesthesia but wasn't really standing up but just lifting his head up a little.  They were watching him closely and finally at one point, he gave a last big breath, and that was it.  They tried the CPR but to no avail...which, I think, was probably the way it should be.  She went on to say how everyone there just loved him and knew him by name.  I'm sure it's because there aren't many Italian Greyhounds but I would like to think it's also because he was such a wonderful dog...he really was.  


The worst part of this whole thing is that I'm so terribly saddened by the fact that I didn't get to say good-bye while he was still alive.  Obviously I had no way of knowing this would happen but other times when he's had surgery, I've actually thought in mind how some dogs never wake up from surgery so I'll take a good look and give an extra pat before they would go out the door.  This time, I think I was upstairs with the kids when Duncan left.  I knew I still needed to say my good-byes so I had them bring him out to me in one of the little exam rooms.  So, so, tough.  He just celebrated his 12th birthday and it's nearly impossible for me to believe that it's been nearly 12 years since I opened that crate at the airport and this adorable little creature greeted me with a wagging tail.  And he's been our pal ever since.  Of course, at that time, he was Dewey Brace since Duncan and I were just dating but he quickly became Duncan's best friend (well, besides me).  I had researched that male Italian Greyhounds seem to have better personalities than females so I had decided to get a male and they were right.  He had such a friendly, happy, loving personality.  I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but it was better than his sister's personality, for sure.  It took me all of about five seconds to name him.  Let's see, what are things I love?  Mountain Dew.  Dewey, it is!  I should probably be having one right now in his memory...


I know this is all for the best because, honestly, how great of a life was it going to be in his condition, taking pain meds every day?  Then we would have been faced with trying to figure out when it was the right time to end things and the horrible good-bye process.  So really, it's a blessing.  It ended painlessly they said.


The girls are handling it well.  Calleigh was with me when the vet had called and I told her that I thought Dewey had died and she started crying.  I gave her a hug and said it would be okay, we would see Dewey again in heaven when Jesus comes back.  This has been their mantra.  When Aubree woke up from her nap, Calleigh yelled up the stairs that Dewey had died and Aubree responded that it was okay, he was having surgery and we would see him tomorrow.  We told her, no, he isn't coming back and she said it was okay, we would see him in heaven.  Calleigh was really sweet because she told us "In one more day, it will be closer to go to heaven, and then the next day will be closer, and then the next day will be closer, and then the next day, and then the next."    So I think they're going to be fine.  But how weird is it to think that Brady will never remember (or probably Aubree for that matter) him?


Life goes on.  It stops for no one.  Ron and Elaine just got back from Pennsylvania where they paid their respects to a great friend that passed away from cancer.  It's an ugly, ugly disease.  But how truly awesome is it to know that this isn't the end for us?  We have the hope of heaven where we will be reunited and most importantly, will see Jesus!  What joy I get each day as we talk about that with the girls and see their excitement when they think of sitting on Jesus' lap to hear his stories.  It reminds me of the day when we got up early to go to Legoland and I told Calleigh "Get up.  It's going to be an exciting day!"  And Calleigh said "You know what's the most exciting?  Going to heaven!" 


There is other news, naturally.  Until this happened, the headline on the blog was going to be that Brady Brother is now crawling and got his first tooth.  He went a little ways on Sunday evening and then made it officially official on Monday morning. I got it on video which, ironically, has Dewey in it too which is the last video I have of him.  It's a two-for-one special I guess you could say.  Brady isn't crawling from the living room to the kitchen quite yet but he's definitely doing his thing...and finding every minute piece of lint while he's at it which promptly goes into his mouth if there isn't a binky lodged there.  The tooth, meanwhile, made an appearance on Wednesday.  It's his bottom left and it looks like the bottom right is close behind.  So far I haven't noticed any discomfort for him which corresponds to my experience with the girls and the teething process.  Strangely enough, both of the girls started crawling and got their first tooth in the same week (Calleigh - 7 1/2 months, Aubree - 11 months).   Sort of strange.  Anyway, I'm glad that Brady seems to be falling more into the Calleigh camp, timing wise, then Aubree since he clocked in at just a bit over 8 1/2 months with these milestones.  

Now that he's crawling, this maneuver is his favorite.  It's like he's trying to do push ups or something. 

We're getting the eating thing revved up for him too.  I had mentioned the gagging he did with the strawberries last week.  Thankfully that was just a fluke and he hasn't gagged since.  I've been giving him stage 3 baby food (which comes with textured food) and then also subsidizing that with pieces of strawberries, watermelon, cheese, and most recently, fri-chik.  Boy, did he go to town on that fri-chik last night.  He was loving it.  Tonight we were over at Ron and Elaine's for supper and Elaine gave him just a dab of whip cream.  Well, that was extremely well received and I ended up giving him about five more squirts of the stuff.  We need to get that boy fattened up for his nine month appointment next week.  I need to make sure he stays on the growth chart!  And besides, I'm getting really sick of the 3-6 month clothes.  He's actually pretty much ready for the next size, thankfully.  I'm just dreading the whole cleaning out the drawer thing.  

Can't get enough of the whip cream.  He even tried to lick the tray.

In other news, Allen and I wrapped up our last week of teaching, for now, this past Sabbath.  It was a fun time, I must say.  I do enjoy teaching although something can be said for having a little break and getting to enjoy it from your chair.  It was such a nice day out on Sabbath that I had the idea to go and have a picnic supper after naptime.  I had discovered a cute new park when I was yard sale-ing the day before so it seemed like the perfect outing.  Well, it was and it wasn't.  It was great to go to a new playground but then, on the other hand, it ended up getting pretty darn cold by the time it was getting dark and we were shivering.  It was kind of weird though.  When we got there, we noticed an Asian mother and her two girls and boy playing and Duncan said to me "They look familiar.  Do they go to our church?"  I said, "Of course, they look familiar, those are our neighbors!"  Sure enough, it was our neighbors from across the street who we would see all the time but rarely talked to because they didn't seem to speak English.  I had ascertained that they had moved awhile back because a new Asian family was living there.  After a little bit, the mother came over to me to say hello and, as it turns out, she does speak English!  She obviously recognized us too.  So yeah, I feel kind of bad that we had a lengthier conversation after meeting randomly in a park then practically  the whole time they had lived there.  

After the our picnic supper, we made a stop to pick up Duncan's suit from the Oviedo Mall (he got it months ago but finally picked it up after the alterations) and then a final stop at TCBY for a little Saturday night treat.   Brady was the happy recipient of many spoonfuls of my vanilla although the tiny M&M he accidentally got in one bit threw him off a little.   The crescendo of my evening was sneaking off to see a movie with Jennifer and Tangie once the kids were all in bed.  We saw "The Vow" which is based on the true story of a women who gets in a car accident and can't remember that she's married.  I thought it was very good.  Man, I've already seen a movie this year and it was only February.  Unbelievable.  

Sunday morning after First Watch, we hit up Ikea to look at dining room tables since the chairs on ours are basically broken and making scratches on our wood floor.  We tried to check the girls in to the play area where you can leave them while you shop but alas, Aubree was about an inch too short (you have to be 37 inches).  That did not end well since we had gotten all the way to the front of the line only to be turned away by the person in charge (we thought she could get away with it because with her shoes and hood on, she was just about there but then he made her do it without shoes).  Poor thing.  As you can imagine, within about five minutes Calleigh was doing her, "This is boring" thing.  We're glad that she at least has progressed from "This is bored."  I found a table and chairs I liked but Duncan couldn't commit in the end.  


Sunday afternoon I stayed home with Brady, since it was nap time, and Duncan took the girls to a birthday party for Lindsey and Ethan at the RDV.  There was no swimming involved this year but the girls had a great time in the gym...so I'm told.  

The birthday kids

All the kids...notice Aubree snuggling up to a little boy (Maddux) at your bottom left.

Monday morning my friend Jenny came over with her daughter, Lexi, who is about five weeks older than Brady but much bigger (no surprise there).  We had a nice little play date and it's always nice to talk to other mother's who have a baby at a similar age so you can share progress and get ideas.  

Monday was a big deal for me as I got my hair cut.  Every few years I decide to shake it up, which as I look back, usually happens in either January or February.  It was my birthday two years ago that I got it cut fairly short (and by fairly short, I mean around shoulder length).  Jennifer helped me pick out a new hairstyle to try.  It's based on a celebrity but I won't mention it here so that you can't try and compare!  Since Elaine was out of town and Duncan wouldn't be home in time, I ended up dropping the girls off at Jennifer's for Bruce to watch.  Brady came with me since Jennifer was going to get her hair cut too afterwards. Well, you can tell that I don't get my hair done very often because I didn't really think about the time it would take to get your hair washed, cut, color (highlights) put in, color washed out, and styled.  Fortunately Duncan was able to come get Brady at about 7:30 (I nursed him while I was waiting for the color to set).  By the time I picked up the girls it was about 9:00 and I felt bad for Bruce having to watch the girls for so long but he seemed to be taking it all in stride.  The hair, meanwhile, is growing on me.  

Self portrait.  This is a few days later because I didn't like any of the ones Duncan took  the night I got it.  

I don't know that there's a whole lot to say about the rest of the week so in the interest of saving time, I'll skip over a daily recap of all that.  If there was anything interesting, I'm sure I'll have a picture of it that I'll reference below.  Oh, one big thing that did happen is that I've FINALLY figured out what Aubree means by "crunchy" binky.  A few days ago I had been looking through her assortment of binkies and noticed that not all of the binkies are the same size.  They sell the binkies in various sizes like 0+, 6+ months, etc.  Naturally, when we last bought binkies, I got her the largest size which, as we know, were deemed "crunchy."  So I started thinking if the size had anything to do with it because she'll just look at a binky and tell you if it's crunchy.  Yesterday we were in a consignment store and I saw some (new) binkies for sale.  They were various sizes so I picked out the smallest ones and asked her if they were crunchy.  She took a look through the package and said, nope.  I then showed her the same exact looking ones but the next size up. She took a look and said "Yup, these are crunchy."  She then proceeded to announce, "Well, I like crunchy nuts but not crunchy binkies" which is a rather weird statement until your realize she is talking about the cereal Crunchy Nuts.  Anyway, I bought her the little binkies and they were fine.  So there you go.  I'm still not quite sure why she calls them "crunchy" but at least now I know which ones are crunchy.  


Here are my two embarrassing/funny comments for the week, both courtesy of Aubree:


As we get out of the car at the library for story time, Aubree spots a lady with rather short hair getting out of the car next to us. 
Aubree:  "Mom, look at that lady.  She looks like a boy."  
Did I mention we were all getting out of our cars so there were no sounds barriers?  Ahhhh!


Aubree notices I'm wearing a new skirt that has a slit in the back.
Aubree: "Look, Mom, turn around. There's a hole in the back."  


Some random pictures...

We had a nice picnic lunch at the green playground on Wednesday. 

It's getting hot so time to bring out the hats.

 I've become a little obsessed with taking pictures of the girls after they've fallen asleep at night because, quite frankly, I get both amused and a little misty eyed (for the sister I never had) when I see the various positions they've fallen asleep in.  Now that Aubree isn't in a crib, they've been falling asleep together just about every night although it seems to be a different spot each night whether on a bed or some random spot on the floor.

Wednesday night.

Thursday night.  

Just now.

Have a Happy Sabbath.  I'm heading upstairs now and I think I just looked around the room to see where Dewey was to put in his crate.  This will take some getting used to.